Nancy Mairs

In this superbly written essay, Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer who has multiple sclerosis, defines the terms in which she will interact with the world. She names herself a cripple so that she would not be named by others. She chose a word that represents her reality, and if it makes people "wince," "Perhaps I want them to wince. I want them to see me as a tough customer, one to whom the fates, gods, viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely. As a cripple, I swagger". She muses on the euphemisms that are used by others, concluding that they describe no one because "Society is no readier to accept crippledness than to accept death, war, sex, sweat, or wrinkles."
Mairs describes the uncertainty of a diagnosis early on, the kind of person she was before, and how that has changed and not changed since her illness. She discusses her need for assistance, but balances that by saying that there are many people around her willing to help; she describes her dependence on her family and how lucky she was to have a husband and children before she was taken ill. Nevertheless, there "always is the terror that people are kind to me only because I'm a cripple".
Mairs has many insightful comments to make about how disability does not fit well in our youth-oriented, physical-fitness-obsessed culture, and on how social expectations influence whether she adapts or fails to adapt. She also understands what is at stake for the medical professionals who care for her: "I may be frustrated, maddened, depressed by the incurability of my disease, but I am not diminished by it, and they are”.